‘I’m crying’: How social media helps Tim and Felicity renovate their 105-room chateau
When the last of 47,000 hand-cut slate shingles was secured to the roof of French heritage treasure Chateau de Purnon by its Australian owner Tim Holding, a wave of joy, relief and leaky eyes rippled around the world.
The completion of the new roof was likened to the chateau’s crown being restored by some of the 1.5 million subscribers on social media channels including YouTube and Patreon, who had been following its restoration.
On YouTube, OzAshley wrote: “What’s wrong with me? I’m a 56yo man, and I’m crying watching … I’m so happy that it has been saved.”
“As soon as you said last slate, my eyes started leaking,” said another. A Canadian roofer said he watched with coworkers every week; a carpenter said the French craftsmen had done “tradesmen proud”, and a French follower said “Incroyable”.
Each of these likes – and subscriptions – helps support the financial cost of restoring Purnon.
A Louis XVI chateau completed on the eve of the French Revolution, Purnon was mostly intact but its roof was at risk of collapse and its facade was crumbling like a 250-year-old Breton biscuit.
“I’ve never cried over a roof before,” said one of the nearly 19,000 people liking an Instagram post.
Its completion came 2108 days after Holding and now-wife Felicity Selkirk bought the 105-room heritage-listed chateau for $1.2 million in 2020.
This joy on social media was a far cry from the cesspit of Victorian politics, said Holding, a former Labor politician who shocked Victoria when he quit in 2013.
He and Selkirk are back in Australia for a series of talks and to promote their book, Château Reawakening.
When the couple bought the castle, they thought their savings would fund repairs to its exterior and roof. But the first estimate for urgent repairs was a “very disheartening revelation”, Holding said. “All our savings would be consumed and nothing would be left for all the outbuildings and anything else.”
That prompted Selkirk to ask: “Can heritage be saved through storytelling and sharing?”
This is tapping into a new trend. On the Australian roadshow with architecture nerd Tim Ross and UK Grand Designs host Kevin McCloud, they called for conservation by celebration of heritage. Ross said: “We don’t save rainforests by showing chainsaws, we save them by reminding everyone of their beauty and importance.”
Since Selkirk and Holding decided to tell the story of Purnon, and of those who lived above and below stairs, they have documented their life in an often-freezing castle that sits on 23 hectares of land surrounded by numerous decrepit outbuildings, including a boulangerie, stables and a chapel.
As well as using their own savings, the couple received €300,000 from France’s heritage lottery. They also raise funds through Les Amis de Purnon (Friends of Purnon, a not-for-profit association).
That did not come close to covering the €2.7 million it cost for the new roof and facade. Because of its heritage listing, the French government contributed about half, Holding said.
“The rest is paid by us.”
Their weekly videos and behind-the-scenes sessions for subscribers on YouTube and Patreon have turned French tradespeople into celebrities. Selkirk is often seen hanging new wallpaper and stripping the old, some of which inspired a new range by Farrow & Ball called the Purnon papers, sold on the chateau’s online boutique. The old slate tiles are also for sale as drink coasters.
Talks by Holding and Selkirk cover the power of social media to save heritage, and the influence of French design and fashion from the 18th century on everything from wallpaper to furniture around the world.
A talk at the Museums of History NSW in Sydney on Wednesday was accompanied by a display of French books on design and architecture from the era, and documents from Purnon’s library on loan for one night only in the Caroline Simpson Library.
The museum’s Dr Matthew Stephens said when the chateau’s grand salon was refreshed in the rococo revival style in the 1890s, they added intricate floral and shell carvings, pastel colours and Romantic paintings inset above the doors.
“This design style was also popular in Sydney and could be found in high-end mansions such as Burdekin House, which once stood opposite the NSW Parliament on Macquarie Street.”
The couple have saved artefacts stored in the attics, including the oldest billiard table discovered in France. Royal busts were restored to the rightful spots on the roof. They also found puzzling his and hers do-it-yourself devices to relieve constipation. The French diet was rich, lacking roughage and greens, Holding explained.
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